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DATE

Friday, Oct. 23, 2026

CALL PARTICIPANTS

  • Chief Financial Officer - Carl Martin Bengtsson
  • Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer - Theodore L. Harris

TAKEAWAYS

  • Revenue -- $290.7 million, an 8.6% increase from the prior year quarter driven by growth across all three reporting segments.
  • GAAP Net Earnings -- $46.7 million, a 16.0% increase versus the prior year quarter.
  • Adjusted EBITDA -- $80.3 million, up 12.4% from the prior year with an adjusted EBITDA margin rate of 27.6%.
  • GAAP Diluted EPS -- $1.46, representing a 17.7% increase from the prior year.
  • Adjusted Diluted EPS -- $1.57, a 16.3% increase from $1.35 in the prior year quarter.
  • Gross Margin -- 36.4%, an expansion of 70 basis points driven by sales growth, favorable product mix, and manufacturing efficiencies.
  • Human Nutrition and Health Revenue -- $188.2 million, an 8.1% increase driven by growth in both the nutrients and food ingredients businesses.
  • Animal Nutrition and Health Revenue -- $63.0 million, an 11.7% increase resulting from higher sales in both the monogastric and ruminant species markets.
  • Specialty Products Revenue -- $37.3 million, up 4.5% due to growth in the performance gases business.
  • Animal Nutrition and Health Earnings from Operations -- $6.8 million, an 82.8% increase reflecting higher sales and a favorable product mix.
  • Human Nutrition and Health Earnings from Operations -- $45.6 million, an 11.8% increase driven by higher sales and favorable mix, partially offset by higher operating expenses.
  • Operating Expenses -- $43.3 million, compared to $40.9 million in the prior year quarter, primarily due to higher compensation-related costs.
  • Free Cash Flow -- $57.9 million for the quarter, supporting the company's capital allocation and growth investments.
  • Cash Balance -- $66.3 million as of Sept. 30, 2026, including the impact of $28 million in debt reduction and $28 million in share repurchases.
  • Stock Repurchases -- $27.4 million during the quarter and approximately $127 million over the trailing 12 months.
  • Net Debt -- $57.7 million, with a net leverage ratio of 0.2 times trailing 12-month adjusted EBITDA.
  • Inventories -- $177.0 million, an increase from $131.4 million at the end of 2025, reflecting inflation, volume growth, and deliberate safety stock builds for risk mitigation.
  • Net Interest Expense -- $1.9 million, down from $2.6 million in the prior year due to lower outstanding borrowings and interest rates.
  • Effective Tax Rate -- 22.2%, a decrease from 22.6% in the prior year quarter primarily due to favorable federal tax return adjustments.
  • GAAP Earnings from Operations -- $62.4 million, an increase of 14.4% driven by broad-based growth across all reporting segments.

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RISKS

  • Bengtsson warned that high oil prices represent a net negative for the company, citing inflationary pressure on transportation, logistics, and petrochemical-derived raw materials.
  • Bengtsson noted that "there is a little bit of timing delay in some businesses" regarding the company's ability to pass through raw material inflation to customers, which can negatively impact margins on a percentage basis.

SUMMARY

Balchem Corporation (BCPC +2.18%) reported record third quarter performance across all reporting segments, driven by market penetration of specialty nutrients and better-for-you food trends. Management stated that growth was supported by manufacturing efficiencies and favorable product mix despite inflationary pressures on raw materials. The company advanced its clinical research portfolio, publishing studies on cognitive and cardiovascular benefits for its branded ingredients. Financial activity during the period included stock repurchases and a reduction in net borrowings while maintaining a net leverage ratio of 0.2 times.

  • CEO Harris highlighted new clinical evidence for VitaCholine, stating, "The findings provide encouraging new evidence that may support the role of VitaCholine in lifelong brain health and further strengthen the scientific foundation of choline in healthy aging and cognition."
  • The company reported that the third quarter marked the 29th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth in adjusted EBITDA.
  • Management launched a next-generation encapsulated methionine on Oct. 1, 2026, building on a pipeline of rumen-protected nutrients designed to improve cow productivity.
  • Bengtsson indicated that the fracking fluid business, which previously generated $105 million in annual revenue, is currently operating at an $8 million annual run rate.
  • Management reported accelerated ruminant growth in international markets, with Bengtsson noting, "We are seeing good ruminant growth in Europe, in The Middle East, in Asia."
  • The company has filed for antidumping duties in the United States to combat trade practices in the monogastric business, following the implementation of similar duties in Europe.
  • Harris stated, "the findings add important clinical evidence supporting the role of vitamin K2 in cardiovascular health and healthy aging, while further strengthening the scientific leadership and commercial differentiation of our K2VITAL platform."

INDUSTRY GLOSSARY

  • VitaCholine: Balchem's branded choline bitartrate, an essential nutrient for brain health and metabolism.
  • K2VITAL DELTA: A microencapsulated vitamin K2 (MK-7) designed for stability and used for cardiovascular and bone health.
  • Ruminant: A category of animals including cattle, sheep, and goats that have a specialized multi-compartment stomach for digesting plant-based food.
  • Monogastric: Animals with a single-chambered stomach, such as swine and poultry.
  • Antidumping duties: Tariffs imposed on imported goods that are priced below fair market value to protect domestic industries from unfair competition.
  • Adjusted EBITDA: Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, adjusted for non-cash or non-recurring items to measure core operating profitability.
  • Fracking: Hydraulic fracturing, a technique used to extract oil or gas from deep underground rock formations.

Full Conference Call Transcript

Operator: Press star 1 again. I will now hand the conference over to Martin Bengtsson, Balcom's Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Carl Martin Bengtsson: Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our conference call this morning to discuss the results of Balchem Corporation for the quarter ending September 30, 2026. My name is Martin Bengtsson, chief financial officer, and hosting this call with me is Ted Harris, our chairman, president, and CEO. Following the advice of our counsel auditors and the SEC, at this time, I would like to read our forward looking statement. Statements made in today's call that are not historical facts are considered forward looking statements. We can give no assurance that the expectations reflected in forward looking statements will prove correct and various factors could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations.

Including risks and factors identified in Balchem's most recent Form 10-Ks, 10-Q, and 8-K reports. The company assumes no obligation to update these forward looking statements. Carl and commentary also include non GAAP financial measures. Please refer to the reconciliations in our earnings release for further details. I will now turn the call over to Ted Harris, our Chairman, President and CEO.

Theodore L. Harris: Thanks, Martin. Good morning. And welcome to our conference call. We were very pleased with our third quarter results reported earlier this morning. Were once again driven by healthy broad based growth across all 3 of our reporting segments, and continued solid execution on our strategic growth initiatives. Our healthy growth continues to be fueled by the ongoing market penetration of our unique portfolio of specialty nutrients and delivery systems. And the favorable better for you trends within the food and nutrition markets that are well aligned with our product offerings and capabilities. As a result, we delivered record quarterly consolidated sales, net earnings, and adjusted EBITDA. As well as solid cash flows.

Before discussing our third quarter financial results in more detail, I would like to provide a few comments on the current market environment within which we are operating. And also provide you with some updates regarding new science that has been recently published supporting our branded ingredients VitaCholine, K2VITAL, and K2VITAL DELTA. We continue to see healthy demand trends across the majority of our businesses. Within human nutrition and health, we continue to see solid demand growth for our unique portfolio of ingredients and solutions. Consumer interest in supplementation and better for you food systems, continue to support a healthy market environment for us. In animal nutrition and health, momentum continues to build.

Both ruminant and monogastric customers continue to adopt our nutrient technologies as they look for cost effective ways to improve animal health and productivity. And within specialty products, we continue to see healthy market demand for our specialized performance gases and services. Overall, we see a positive demand outlook for Balchem, and we remain confident in our ability to deliver healthy growth over the long term. Turning to the growing body of science supporting our branded ingredients. I would like to highlight 2 recently published studies that we believe are particularly noteworthy.

The first is the MD Anderson led pilot study that we have discussed in the past and that was recently published in Alzheimer's and Dementia Translational Research and Clinical Interventions, a peer reviewed journal of the Alzheimer's Association. The study evaluated the potential benefits of choline supplementation in cognitively healthy APOE4 carriers, a population at significantly increased genetic risk for developing Alzheimer's disease. Researchers examined the impact of supplementation on biomarkers associated with neurodegeneration, brain metabolism, and pathways implicated in Alzheimer's progression. The findings provide encouraging new evidence that may support the role of VitaCholine in lifelong brain health and further strengthen the scientific foundation of choline in healthy aging and cognition.

We believe this represents another important step in positioning VitaCholine not only as an essential nutrient, also as a leading science backed ingredient in adult cognitive health. The second study I would like to highlight is the DANCODE trial. Published in Circulation. A leading cardiovascular journal of the American Heart Association. The study examined the impact of vitamin K2 supplementation using Balchem's K2VITAL DELTA on coronary artery calcification and cardiovascular health. The findings add important clinical evidence supporting the role of vitamin K2 in cardiovascular health and healthy aging, while further strengthening the scientific leadership and commercial differentiation of our K2VITAL platform. Now let me turn to our consolidated results for the third quarter.

This morning, we reported record consolidated revenue of $291 million, an increase of 8.6% versus the prior year. We delivered record quarterly GAAP earnings from operations, of $62 million, an increase of 14.4%. Consolidated net income closed the quarter at a record $47 million, an increase of 16%. This quarterly net income translated to diluted net earnings per share of $1.46 on a GAAP basis, up 17.7%. On an adjusted basis, we delivered record quarterly adjusted EBITDA of $80 million, an increase of 12.4%. Our quarterly adjusted net earnings were a record $50 million, an increase of 14.5% which translated to $1.57 per diluted share, up 16.3%.

Overall, it was an excellent quarter for Balchem: record results, healthy growth across all 3 segments, and continued progress on our long term strategic priorities. With that, I will turn the call back over to Martin to review our third quarter financial results and segment performance in more detail.

Carl Martin Bengtsson: Thank you, Ted. As Ted mentioned, net sales grew 8.6% this quarter compared to the prior year. With each of our 3 segments contributing to that growth. Our gross margin was $106 million, up 10.7% and our gross margin as a percentage of net sales expanded 70 basis points to 36.4%. The improvement was driven primarily by higher sales, favorable product mix, and manufacturing efficiencies partially offset by certain higher manufacturing input costs. Consolidated operating expenses for the third quarter were $43 million, compared to $41 million in the prior year. The increase was primarily due to higher compensation related costs partially offset by the net favorable impact of certain discrete items in the quarter.

GAAP earnings from operations for the third quarter were a record $62 million, up 14.4%. On an adjusted basis, earnings from operations were $67 million, up 12.7%. Adjusted EBITDA was a record $80 million, an increase of 12.4% with an adjusted EBITDA margin rate of 27.6%. Net interest expense for the third quarter was $2 million, down $1 million from the prior year reflecting lower outstanding borrowings and lower interest rates. The effective tax rates for the third quarter of 2026 and 2020 were 22.2% and 22.6%, respectively. The decrease was primarily due to favorable adjustments related to filing our prior year federal tax return and a higher foreign derived intangible income deduction benefit.

Partially offset by an increase in certain state taxes. Consolidated net income closed the quarter at a record $47 million, up 16%. And diluted net earnings per share were $1.46, up 17.7%. Adjusted net earnings were a record $50 million, up 14.5% and adjusted diluted earnings per share were $1.57, up 16.3%. Cash flows from operations were $70 million for the quarter, and free cash flow was $58 million. And we ended the quarter with $66 million of cash on the balance sheet. We continue to generate healthy cash flows, which enables us to both invest in growth and return value to shareholders.

We repurchased approximately $28 million of Balchem common stock during the third quarter and we also reduced net borrowings by $28 million in the quarter. Resulting in a net leverage ratio of 0.2x. Together with the expanded $650 million credit facility we put in place in July, we are well positioned to fund innovation capacity expansion, and strategic acquisitions. Turning now to our segment results. Human nutrition and health delivered record sales of $188 million. up 8.1%, driven by growth in both our nutrients business and our food ingredients and solutions businesses. Earnings from operations rose 11.8% to a record $46 million, driven by higher sales and favorable mix, partially offset by higher operating expenses.

On an adjusted basis, earnings from operations for this segment were a record $49 million, up 10.9%. We remain very positive about the outlook for human nutrition and health. Our differentiated ingredients, formulation expertise, and branded portfolio position us well to support our customers and capture additional market opportunities. Particularly as consumers prioritize health and better for you solutions. Animal nutrition and health sales were $63 million, up 11.7% from the prior year. Driven by higher sales in both the monogastric and ruminant markets. Earnings from operations were $6.8 million, up 82.8% reflecting the higher sales and favorable mix partially offset by certain higher manufacturing input costs.

On an adjusted basis, earnings from operations for this segment were $7 million, up 73.6%. Animal nutrition and health delivered another quarter of year over year improvement. Growth was supported by continued adoption of our encapsulated rumen protected nutrient technologies in dairy, pricing actions in our U. S. Monogastric business, and gradual improvement in our European monogastric business following the implementation of EU antidumping duties. We remain optimistic about the direction of this business and confident in our ability to drive further penetration of our technologies to deliver long term growth. Specialty product sales were $37 million, up 4.5%, driven by growth in our performance gases business.

Earnings from operations were $12 million, up 6.6%, reflecting higher sales and favorable mix, partially offset by higher operating expenses. On an adjusted basis, earnings from operations for this segment were $13 million, up 3%. Specialty products continued to deliver steady profitable growth this quarter. With strong market positions and disciplined execution, we believe this segment remains well positioned to continue this steady growth over time. In summary, it was another strong quarter with record results, healthy growth in each of our segments, and solid cash generation. As we look ahead to the fourth quarter, we are optimistic about the outlook.

The fourth quarter for us, as we have shown over the last number of years, is normally sequentially lower than the third quarter based on historic business seasonality but we remain confident in our ability to continue to deliver healthy year over year growth in the fourth quarter as we have done all year. With that, I will turn the call back over to Ted for some closing remarks.

Theodore L. Harris: Thanks, Martin. We are very pleased with the results we reported earlier today. Our teams executed extremely well during the quarter, delivering record financial performance while continuing to advance our strategic priorities. The third quarter marked our 29th consecutive quarter of year over year growth in adjusted EBITDA. That level of consistency across a wide range of market conditions reflects the strength of our unique portfolio, the resilience of our business model, and the dedication of our team. We are very proud of what we accomplished this past quarter and excited about the opportunities ahead for Balchem. With that, I will turn the call back over to Martin who will open up the line for questions.

Carl Martin Bengtsson: Thank you, Ted. This now concludes the formal conference. At this point, we will open up the conference call for questions.

Operator: And we will now begin the question and answer session. Please limit yourself to 1 question and 1 follow-up. If you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 to raise your hand. To withdraw your question, press star 1 again. We ask that you pick up your handset when asking a question to allow for optimum sound quality. If you are muted locally, please remember to unmute your device. Please stand by for a moment while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Bob Labick with CJS. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Robert James Labick: Good morning, and congratulations on very nice results. Yeah, in addition to the strong growth, you obviously have very nice margin performance and really kind of despite inflation in there. And part of the discussion you mentioned favorable mix, which helped on margins. Can you elaborate on the mix benefits you are getting by segment and talk about if they are sustainable and how we should think about that going forward?

Carl Martin Bengtsson: Sure, Bob. Yeah. I mean, we are obviously very pleased with the performance and the margins for those of you that have followed us over time. We are really improved on those margins here over the last couple of years. As we look at it now for the segments, there is some favorable tailwinds just from a portfolio perspective that if you look at H and H as our largest segment, the nutrition piece of that segment is higher margin relative to the food part and the nutrition part is growing, you know, faster than the food part. So you are getting a favorable mix within H and H over time. Due to that dynamic.

And you have a similar dynamic on the animal nutrition and health side, right, where the ruminant business, the dairy business is higher margin than the monogastric and over time is growing faster. So there are tailwinds within both of those segments. And, obviously, with our specialty products segment, having grown nicely, being very high margin as well for us as a business, It just supports a nice tailwind for us. More specifically, to your question around inflation and so on, I mean, we are in an inflationary period, as you called out. We have seen inflation in our raw materials all year, but we have been able to turn around and pass that through to our customers.

So net, if you look at it sort of year to date, we are pretty much breakeven. But there is a little bit of timing delay in some businesses. So some were a little bit ahead and some were a little bit behind. But on a year to date basis, we are pretty much at breakeven from that perspective, which sort of, if you take a step back, that is a little bit margin dilutive. Right? If materials goes up, you pass that through dollar for dollar. That has a slight negative impact to your margin. Percentage, but we have been able to offset that to some extent with a beneficial portfolio mix.

Robert James Labick: Okay, Brent. that is wonderful. And then I guess for my follow-up, just switching gears a little bit. Sounded like some very exciting news on 2 trials that you just mentioned. So wondering if you could, I guess, elaborate on that and tell us the next steps for the-- for both, I guess, the Alzheimer's and cardiovascular trials that were just released.

Theodore L. Harris: Yes, you are right. We are very excited about these 2 new trials, but sort of just you know, putting it into context, it really is simply kind of part of a broader portfolio of science that is so important to the vitamins, nutrients, minerals that we go to market with and it is really the foundation of what we do building this portfolio of science. And the reason that I highlighted these, 1 is because the-- First of all, they are very new.

But secondly, because they really stand out as being a bit different than the previous studies that we have done relative to these nutrients, the previous many studies that have been done And I will start with the MD Anderson University of Texas and MIT study. And that really is, as you know, Bob, choline has predominantly been recognized as an important nutrient for child nutrition, infant nutrition. it is commonly included in infant formula. it is known, based on many studies, to have a significant impact on infant cognition, And that is really what the history has been and a lot of the science has been for choline. And this study is clearly focusing on adult cognition.

And it is now 1 of several that I would say are really, really good studies that bring choline into the discussion relative to adult cognition, Alzheimer's, dementia, And this was a pilot study as we talked about. so it was a fairly small group of participants in this--in it, but will lead to a much bigger study and 1 that really could very much change the game relative to showing the importance of choline relative to adult cognition. And obviously, what are we going to do? What comes next is we are gonna make sure that our customers are fully aware of this study and the favorable results and the fact that a pilot study is coming, forward.

And so now, as we do, you know, typically in the process, we start with the science and then we need to create awareness around studies like this through our marketing efforts, and that is what we will be doing next. And I think that this will be viewed very positively by our customers and ultimately consumers. And the second 1 was similar in that it was for vitamin K2, and I think you also are aware the vast majority of previous science and the deep library of studies on K2 are primarily around bone health. And helping calcium find its way from soft tissues into the bones and strengthening the bones.

Well, what is different about this is this really is an important, much more significant study, 400 subjects in the study over a longer period of time. That really showed cardiovascular benefit of K2. And so this is sort of not focused on bone strength, but on the cardiovascular benefit. it is very logical to kind of think that if K2 has a mode of action of helping calcium find its way from soft tissue into the bone that it could have a cardiovascular benefit. And this study went a long way to providing some evidence that may indicate that K2 does indeed do that.

So again, what we will do with this is we will now kind of add the marketing on top of this science and the library that we have behind it and create awareness around it and as a company, lead with science, but we obviously need to create awareness through marketing as well. So I think they are 2 important studies. They are not necessarily the end of the story but help really add to the body of science. Supporting these branded ingredients. So we are excited about it.

Robert James Labick: Brent. That is. that is very exciting. So thank you. I will jump back in the queue, but congrats.

Theodore L. Harris: Okay. Thanks, Bob.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Ram Selvaraju with H. C. Wainwright. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Theodore L. Harris: Hey, Ram. Are you there? I think, Tracy, maybe we should go on to the next question, and maybe we can come back to Ram because we cannot hear him.

Operator: Absolutely. Your next question is coming now from Daniel Harriman with Sidoti and Company. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Daniel Scott Harriman: Hey, guys. Good morning, and congratulations on yet another great quarter. Just a couple of quick questions from me today. Just focusing on ANH. You know, obviously, sales growing how they did and earnings from operations up significantly year over year. Can you just provide a little bit more information about what is driving that and how sustainable you think it is over time? I know you did mention a few things in the prepared remarks. And then the last question is just about inventory. It looks like it is crept up to about $177 million, which is up from where it was at the end of 2025.

And I am just curious if you could help us understand what is driving that, whether it is pricing, stocking ahead of cost or just inherent demand. Really appreciate it, guys. Thank you.

Carl Martin Bengtsson: Yeah. No. For sure. It sounded like 2 questions for me probably. Yep. So maybe we start with the A and H growth story. I mean, we are very happy with how ANH has performed over a number of quarters right now, of gradually just improving. And a couple of drivers. 1 is obviously the ruminant side. Where we keep driving that penetration. Of our rumen encapsulated nutrients there. Market penetration is still 1 where even if the market were not to grow, we can still drive growth through penetration and adoption of our technologies And we are seeing that across our product portfolio, whether it be on our encapsulated methionine, our encapsulated lysine, our encapsulated choline, etcetera.

We are seeing growth across our product line. that is further supported by did launch a new encapsulated lysine last year that we spoke about. that is really driven healthy growth in that product line. We just rolled out the next generation and encapsulated methionine, actually on October 1, so that is not in Q3, 3, but it is sort of further just supporting the continued growth in that portfolio. And there is a nice sort of pipeline coming behind that of product launches that we are working on that we are looking forward to. Just continue to drive that penetration. And it is not just in The US.

We were historically very US focused, we are also seeing accelerated growth internationally. So we are seeing good ruminant growth in Europe, in The Middle East, in Asia. that is further supporting that ruminant penetration across the board. as really the customers at the end of the day are looking to get healthier and more efficient cows. There unlikely to be many more cows in the world. So to meet the demand for dairy derived products, they really need their cows to become more efficient. And that is the business we are in. On the monogastric side, 2 things. Right?

We are in Europe, obviously, the antidumping that we have spoken about quite a bit over the last year is certainly helping. So we have regained volumes. Pricing has gradually improved. With these changes, so we are seeing the benefits of that. At the same time, there is still a lot of work to do. We still see sort of circumvention happening and absorption where people are just dropping the price to import it and absorbing the duty. So it will be an ongoing battle to push back around some of these things where they are sort of violating the trade practices but it is certainly helping already at this point, and we are seeing that.

And in The US, we have sort of seen higher input cost, and we have we have offset that through pricing to recover the costs. And that is driving some growth as well. And we have filed for in the US antidumping as well. So we will see here towards the end of the year what the preliminary ruling is in The US to combat that same sort of dumping situation in The US that we went after in Europe. So then going to the other part of your and around the inventory, which ended the quarter at 177 million, which is a high number from a historic perspective.

I would say it is probably 4 reasons that I would point to why that is a higher number than what you are used to seeing. 1 part is obviously that there is an inflationary impact there as in an inflationary environment. A portion of this increase is just the fact that we are paying more for the inventory that we have purchased and hold. But secondarily, growth is also driving a part of this increase. We have grown 9% as a company. year-to-date. So, obviously, that is requiring a bit more of inventory to support those sales.

And then third, I would say, we have you know, from a risk mitigation standpoint, chosen--deliberately chosen to hold more inventory in certain areas where we see higher risk of any sort of disruption, or where it is a really critical raw materials to serve our customers where we do not want to take any chances. And as such, based on what is been going on in The Middle East and some other geopolitical situations, we have just made deliberate choices to hold a bit more safety stock essentially here throughout and build that up over the year. And fourth, it is really that we have added a bit of inventory for coming product launches.

So we have a few product launches that we are preparing for. And usually that means that you have to get everything ready. You need to have the inventory on hand, etcetera. Before you roll that out into the market. And that has further sort of increased a bit the inventory levels we are carrying at the moment. So those 4 things have brought that balance up a bit. And I think as we go forward, we will continue to monitor the situation and see what is sort of the right risk balance here of how much inventory to carry based on our growth and product launches and what is going on in the world, etcetera.

Theodore L. Harris: So that would be sort of my summary of that.

Daniel Scott Harriman: that is really helpful, Martin. Thanks again.

Theodore L. Harris: Thanks, Daniel.

Operator: Your next question comes from the line of Ram Selvaraju with H. C. Wainwright. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Raghuram Selvaraju: Can you hear me now?

Theodore L. Harris: Yes, we can, Ram.

Raghuram Selvaraju: Okay. Sorry about that. I do not know what the technical difficulty. So just very quickly, I wanted to know if you could provide us with some additional sense of what other directions you might pursue with future clinical investigation of the applicability of certain elements of your product range. In particular, I was interested in your thoughts on exercise and physical recovery, athletic performance optimization, and sleep. Yeah.

Theodore L. Harris: Bob, Ram, thanks for the, the question. I would say, all of those that you mentioned are part of the, you know, the benefits of some of our nutrients. So we already have certainly some studies around muscle recovery, for sure, but kind of building off of that I think is important. So that is very relevant. Sleep is certainly for our magnesium product. The benefits of reduction in anxiety, and ease of sleeping as an important part of the science behind those products, and we already have studies but would continue to be a focus.

I think other areas that you did not mention that come to mind are kind of part of the sort of increasing trend around beauty from within. And showing the benefits of some of our nutrients, for example, like OptiMSM on, hair growth and hair strength, and so forth, as well as nail and skin. Benefits, something that we certainly have already invested in some science around, but we will continue to invest in. And I think the other 1, you know, we have talked about choline, relative to infant cognition and now increasingly adult cognition.

But there are certainly other benefits of choline around liver health, and sort of energy and focus and so forth that I think are ripe for additional studies. And as we have said many times, I think the Library of Science behind these nutrients is absolutely critical and kind of foundational to what we do. So, it is a. It continues to receive a healthy amount of our focus, and we will continue to invest there.

Raghuram Selvaraju: From a partnership perspective, do you think that Balchem might explore the possibility of any partnerships or link-ups with companies in the aesthetic space particularly given what you just said. Also, I wanted to ask if you anticipate any future high-profile marketing partnerships with professional sports teams? and if so, do you have some idea of the timing there. And then just 2 very quick questions for Martin. Maybe you could comment on whether the elevated price of oil and potential increased fracking activity in The United States, might have a salubrious impact on the company's other divisions outside of animal nutrition and health and human nutrition and health? And if so, what magnitude that might be?

And then just very quickly, what your expectations are regarding effective tax rate if you expect that to remain steady going forward.

Theodore L. Harris: Thanks, Ram. Bunch of questions in there, but partnerships are absolutely something that we are exploring and interested in. You know, obviously, we are--you know, we are not a cosmetics company. We are not a beauty company. But we have nutritional expertise and knowledge and certainly a nutrient portfolio that plays a role. And these are topics that the leading, you know, call them beauty companies of the world are working on, talking about developing their own path forward. And I think partnerships in that area are a clear opportunity for us and something that we are exploring. So absolutely.

Relative to additional sports team partnerships, You know, we have talked about the NFL, the New York Jets partnership, that is now, I think, maybe in its fourth year. As well as the Bayern Munich women's team. We have been very pleased with both of those investments. And we do think there is room for more. And we are contemplating another sports partnership that we should be able to announce.

I would certainly think, before our next earnings call, that we think is something that really makes a lot of sense for us that has a bit more of an international global aspect to it that we are quite excited about and quite, you know, confident about given the results that we have seen from the first 2. I do not think that this is a never-ending, you know, adding team upon team. But I think that building off of the 2 experiences we have makes sense with another partnership or maybe 2. And 1 of which we should be able to announce here in the next month or so, and we are excited about that.

So I will hand it over to Martin to answer the more technical questions.

Carl Martin Bengtsson: Alright. I will I will start with the tax rate. that is pretty straightforward. We should be finishing the year in that range of 22.5 to 23. I think we are at right now, we are at 22.7% year to date. And we are not seeing any larger structural change or anything that would significantly make us deviate from that rate. And from an oil price impact and so on, I mean, a couple of angles that this could be thought about. Obviously, we have a part of our business that is in our other segment. Right? So it is not in our human or our animal or specialty products.

Where we sell some choline chloride into the fracking industry as you are well aware. which today-- So last year was a $5 million business, so very small. But it was at 1 point, right? If you go back 12 years, a $105 million business. So once upon a time, that was very significant. But now it is not and will we. Are we expecting that to come back in an environment like this where the oil prices are high and you are seeing some uptick in fracking, etcetera. And I think the short answer is not really. We would say not really.

We are seeing a smaller uptick, So if we were a $5 million business last year, what is the current run rate? it is more like an, you know, $8 million type of run rate. And some of the reasons for that is that they--they have sort of reformulated in how what they put into the fracking fluids. They have started to reuse fluids and so on, where there is just a lot less demand for that. And you also see some more, what I would call, international fluids coming in at low prices going down the hole, so to speak, which is also partially why we are filing for antidumping here in The US.

But I do not think that will be a big driver of upside for us only on the margin. So a higher oil price, otherwise, for us, obviously, means more inflation, right, both from a transportation and logistics from a utilities perspective, but also from petrochemical derived raw materials that we purchase. So net, I would probably say that high oil prices is not necessarily a good thing for us. It would be a net negative for us. So I think we would actually be quite happy if those oil prices started easing off here in the not too distant future. Just to support the overall markets.

Raghuram Selvaraju: Thank you so much.

Operator: Thank you. Your next question comes from the line of Artem Chubarov with Rothschild and Company. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Theodore L. Harris: Artem, are you there? Maybe we are having the same technical difficulty with Artem. We certainly cannot hear him.

Operator: Artem, your line is open if you are there. As there are no further questions at this time, I will turn the call back over to Ted for some closing remarks.

Theodore L. Harris: Once again, thank you all very much for joining our call today. We really are very pleased with the third quarter results we reported earlier today. And the outlook for our company Certainly appreciate your support as well as your time today. We look forward to reporting our Q4 and full-year 2026 results in February of next year. In the meantime, we will be participating in Baird's 54th Annual Global Industrial Conference on November 11 in Chicago. And CJS Securities' 27th annual New Ideas for the New Year conference on January 7, 2027, which is a virtual conference. So we hope to see some of you at 1 of those conferences, if not both.

And thank you all for joining today.

Operator: This concludes today's call. Thank you for attending. And you may now disconnect.